Eyolf Østrem on Dylan, Computers, and then some

Neighbourhood Bully indeed

I’m too enraged to write anything coherent, but beginning yesterday, I’m running my own private boycott of the state of Israel and anything/-one associated with it, and I urge everyone to do the same.

A fascist, belligerent regime is not justifiable by any past, no matter how cruel and injust it has been. A rotten childhood does not justify being an asshole.

At the same time, I lament my own belated reaction: why is it that Israel may kill thousands of semi-dark-skinned Achmeds and Muhammeds without anyone raising a brow, but when a couple of Swedish authors are drawn physically into the firing line, the world gets on its feet?

It’s sickening.

Update: When news of the cultural boycott was publicized on an Israeli news site, the comment section virtually exploded. I decided that it was probably a good idea to turn off automatic publication of comments. I’ve now gone through the whole thing, and decided to let it all through. It’s not pretty, but quite interesting.

One correction of terminology: In one of the comments, I refer to the soldiers who boarded the Flotilla as “pirates”. I’ve learned that piracy is not the correct term, since that only applies to civilians acting on their own behalf. Since this was a nation’s armed forces, who acted on behalf of their country, the correct term is “an illegal act of war”. Changing the terminology may change the associations the words bring with them, but it does not change the contents of the statement.

180 thoughts on “Neighbourhood Bully indeed”

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A couple of funny things:
Arab israelis are blocked from your site as well.

You are ignorant as hell.

Dylan was an israeli and lived in a kibbutz

The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully

Eyolf, you are pretty pathetic here.
There are a lot of anonymizers in the Web, so two more clicks give me possibility to avoid any dumb IP-blocking.

And one more question: I suppose that you, as a honest (even a little naive) person, applied the same measures to the Lebanese visitors during the Hizbullah attack on Israel in 2006, did you? And to the Georgians because of their assault on Ossetia in 2008?

I think that all this “peacekeeprs”, including you, that want peace by taking actions like boycot and other violente acts is more dengerous to humanity then what the Israeli are doing for thier selfdefence.
If Israel will act exactly like do to them, there will be a huge worldwide cry over it, but when “smart peacefull” guys like you doing it, it is good act to help the world.

I’ve read in one of the blogs about the boycott you put on Israeli users.

I really don’t care neither about your blog, nor its content.

I was just wondering what you really know, really really know about Israel, about Gaza, about the Gaza flotilla? What I mean is not the news you’ve heard on TV or read in the newspapers, I mean the truth behind it. Have you ever been to Israel, have you ever been trying to understand the roots of that conflict? Did someone ever said he will wipe out Denmark just because… you are there?

Claiming that Israel has been killing thousands is ridiculous and show a bit of (and forgive me..) ignorance.

Let me give you some facts, that you might don’t know:

• Did you know that all supplies brought with the Gaza flotilla, is lying on the Israeli/Gaza border, since the Hamas refuses to let it in. all they wanted is to embarrass Israel.
• Did you know that the Turkish press today (NOT the Israeli) published that all the 9 persons who died on that flotilla were Islamic activists , who left videos saying that they hope to die as “Shahid”?
• Do you know why there is a blockade on Gaza from the beginning? Few facts:
o There is no one single Israeli in the Gaza strip today.
o Did you know that after we left Gaza for 8 years, day after day, they were shooting missiles on Israeli civilians? They’ve killed babies, kids and women! Was that published daily on the Danish press?
o If someone was firing missiles at Copenhagen for 8 consecutive years. Do you believe you would bring flowers to him? AGAIN don’t forget there is no Israelis in Gaza today, so the word occupation is irrelevant.
• Did you know that the Hamas (who govern Gaza) is declaring day by day, that they will rest assure, only after all Israeli will be thrown to the sea? They’ve declared dozen times that there will be no peace with Israel whatsoever.
* Few years ago when an earthquake occurs in Turkey, Israel sent the largest help to Turkey, saving lives of thousands of Turks (YES saving NOT killing).
* Israel was the first to send aid to Haiti, yes even before the mighty huge America

Real Face of Hamas, the Murderer Of Palestinians:
This link shows an 11 minutes movie (please watch it when you have the time). It was made by an Arab man who explains about Hamas and their behavior towards the Palestinians (poor Palestinians!). Sometimes the truth is hard to believe if you don’t experience it, but sadly it is the truth. Ignoring it will not change reality. Please, if you feel humanitarian, don’t avoid the truth, it makes us suffer more. Please don’t sacrifice us, our people and children to the mercy of these people- they don’t have any!!! Not for their own people and certainly not for the Israelis. By ignoring the truth, people assist them to continue their dangerous agenda (yes, we’re also not sure what it is, common sense says society can’t exist acting that way). Remember, they do have global ambitions, remember September 11 and other terror attempts.
Israel doesn’t ask you to start a war, we just ask you not to condemn and deny our right to defend ourselves! We beg you to not stop us from preventing them smuggling weapons and concrete for bunkers (to smuggle more weapons and terrorists). We never prevented humanitarian aid, when they are hurt (usually by Hamas, accusing us) we take care of them in our medical centers). We provide them with food and daily needs which they can’t provide themselves with due to the situation.
You can look at it as saving yourselves by keeping the problem within Israel’s borders, the minute they will finish (with) us, they’ll start with you (start counting their immigrants in your country…).

hey
i am an israeli who belive in the two state idea, wanna devide jerusalem, belive in talking and not fighting, i am helping the arabs when i can any way you get my drift.
ioh and one more thing i think this flotila thing was a mistake BUT befor u do somthing like that, blocking an entire country (which has druz arabs muslems christians thai people etheiopian etc….) u should find out the facts and then decide.
i dont ask u to not block us i just want u to be fair to check the facts.i would love to talk with u as a person and a friend and a fan of mr bob dylan. u have my mail.
but just a point of thinking, what about iran(killing it own people like in the demonstration) china(control and destoing tibet) sudan (darfur) gaza(more palestiniens got killed by hamas ,130, then by israeli forces 2009).
what about them?
i dont say that u r wrong i just think u dont know all the facts, and if u think u do know i would love to talk with u personaly.
u have my mail
with much respect
arik rubinshtein

and again i DO agree with u about how wrong it was (what israel have done)
thanks

Your actions are misguided and clearly show your true colors. It is a result of people like you that Israel (and Jews ) has to disregard public opinion and take care of themselves first. If left to the UN Israel would have been destroyed years ago. Israel is not perfect and they will make mistakes in judgement from time to time but their mistakes are not made in the name of hate but in the name of self preservation. You can claim whatever you like but your actions are born of hate.

I feel pity for you. You are blind. You making fool of yourself misled by bunch of shameless provocators.
Well, at least you are famous now.
I would suggest you to visit Israel to get familiar with the facts or at least pro actively study the facts rather then allow them to brainwash you.

It upsets me that the best Dylan website is run by such an ignorant, prejudiced fool. I’m sure if Sweden (You’re Swedish right?) were attacked constantly by a terrorist organization, then you would maybe sympathize with Israel, but no, you sit in your comfortable European house with no idea with what is really going on in the world (I am in America, so I can’t really say I do either, but I at least don’t judge people based on propaganda and rhetoric)

Anyway, you disgust me. Have you ever been to Israel? Didn’t think so.

as a left winged Israeli, I have to say i can understand your frustration, and i can see why people who live in Europe are rushing to take the Palestinians side… i can argue with you about this for hours.

Nevertheless i think boycotting is always an unfair undemocratic move. silencing opinions and ignoring people you don’t agree with, are just lousy solutions…

Eyolf, its hard to know where to start with the load of shit your original post has generated.

It is truly sad to see so many unpleasant and stupid people here. There are many arguments that could be made but not to the audience that seems to have chosen to attempt to defend the totally unlawful murder of civilians in international waters.

It is both sad and ironic that Zion state has become the fascist face of the modern age. Don’t misunderstand, I have no truck with any form of fundamentalist religion – no, I would go further – religion has constantly been the driving force and justification of most atrocities in the history of humanity.

I am not going to attempt to go into the sad history of this region, suffice to say it is not too hard to see where the suffering people are, who’s building on who’s land and who’s become the Neighbourhood Bully.

I only checked into your blog to say thanks once again for the fantastic work you have done in both transposing and providing commentary on Bob’s opus. It is a tragedy that your blog has been pounced on by such ignorant crap.

Just as an example, because it is there from David (who seems to have his whole world the wrong way round – David WWII was fought in Europe, not the USA and, to the best of my recollection Korea and Vietnam weren’t fought in Oklahoma either?).

So, the answer to David, on your behalf, is no I haven’t been to Israel, why would I? But, this is the the same spurious argument that was put to me as a teenager to defend the killing in Kenya, Rhodesia and South Africa in the 1960’s. I never understood then and don’t now, how going to a county would make me understand the violence and killing. Would I have need to have been in Germany in 1939 to condemn Kristal night?

So, Eyolf, ‘If dogs run free then why not we’ and I was going to make a comment on New Morning not all this crap.

Whew, I made it to the bottom! I should have gone to bed, but I just couldn’t help myself.
What’s really interesting to me is that a large portion of these posts were on June 8th – and at about 8pm there was this massive surge in postings.
Sadly, my first post, on June 8th at about 2:30 am was ignored entirely. And ironically, the general quality of the posts degenerated severely at that point. It’s still interesting to read, but the civil discussion portion seems to be a loss.
From the posters here: I’d really appreciate some vulnerability without so much anger. I think it would do more for me, as an observer. I understand you are upset and offended, but if you can show me where it hurts; tell the story, as you see it, of how we came to be here. I believe that would be a great thing to share.
We talk about facts, but I’m more interested in stories. Facts require cross-checking, whereas a story is just a story.

Thanks to all who have posted.
To those who have spoken up in my support: much appreciated.
To the rest of you: you have provided me with some excellent source material for a future study. Priceless and worthless at the same time. Thanks.

i spent my early childhood in Bankstown and personal security has for generations been an issue there. The park I played in as a child was littered with used syringes, there were many other hazards and that was the 1970s. Australia certainly has many challenges to face; both facing up to its past and creating its future. Cities the world over have no go zones.

Sagi I believe that your personal security would be at risk in the areas you mention and for the reasons you put forward and that there is a great deal of discrimination and racism in Australia. I don’t think any society has dealt with these forces; I too feel for the tragic, tenous and perilous situation Isreal and people finds itself in.

One of the most articulate and insightful minds I have read on the situation is Ichak Kalderon Adizes, PhD. I never set out to justify the actions of Eyolf or peruscute those of Isreal. There are many sides to this complex, distressing and seemingly intractable situation.

“why is it that Israel may kill thousands of semi-dark-skinned Achmeds and Muhammeds ”

Why is it that Europeans are so ignorant and presume that the Israeli Jewish/Palestinian Arab conflict has something to do with skin colour?

A significant portion of Israel’s Jewish population is semi-dark-skinned, and indeed there are many (notably Israelis who are of Ethiopian Jewish heritage) who one could say are more than “semi” dark skinned. Additionally, a significant proportion of Arabs are very fair-skinned, and have light features, blond or red hair and blue or green eyes. Why do I so often see ignoramuses bringing issues of of race/color into the discussion?

You have misread me: this was not a comment on the Jewish/Palestinian conflict, but on the sad fact that Israel could slaughter 1300 in the previous massacre and — once the obligatory media stir was over — it was business as usual, whereas it seemed to take a couple of Europeans to be among the attacked for the world to react.
That said, saying that race (or, if you prefer, cultural/ethnical segregation) is not an important part of the “discussion”, is even more ignorant.

Well done Eyolf for taking a small stand against the Facist
state of Israel. I applaud your courage as you will surely now
be targeted by the ADL and its attack dogs who control all major
media outlets worldwide. No offence of course intended to the decent
people of Israeli nationality who are I am sure, just as appalled and
sickened as any sane human being by the attrocities being carried
out ever more brazenly by the sociopaths who control the State of Israel.

I really, truly appreciate how you use rhetoric of fairness, and claim that you “haven’t seen a fair argument in favor of Israel”. At the same time, you only allow the posting of comments which you approve. this control of the flow of information is exactly what frames the entire conversation on the site. While it is important to control the flow of explosive comments, at the same time not allowing all of the comments to be heard is no different than what is done by governments worldwide which you yourself would consider fascist, cruel, and simply unfair. It is not only possible, but quite probable that you have come across a good argument against your position, but simply not allowed it through because you do not know how to respond. I guess this is just something to think about. you cannot have a fair conversation or claim to represent any instance of truth or rigor of logic in your argument when you are filtering all of the above material to fit your agenda.

I disagree with many of the policies of the Israeli Government, but i do not believe that boycotting the people (who by the way need your support to stand up to their government) will be beneficial in any way shape or form.

As a student of government, political sciences, history, and middle eastern language, the ignorance contained in your arguments is glaring, and quite concerning. it is arguments like yours that perpetuate the fear, hatred, and ignorance which threaten the future of the civilized world.

and Eyolf, also, to make an assumption that if the ADL is not responding that they support you and the boycott is probably the most ignorant thing I have heard in a long time. look up the ADL before you make any assumptions. it is logic like that which undermines all of your credibility in argument.

I really would like to hear you make a valid point. but sweeping something under the rug, and taking it as a pat on the back when you do not know anything about the organization which you are referring to is just sad.

Further, If you have watched the footage released taken by the Al Jazeera camera crew on board the MAvi MArmara, you would see the 2 dozen or more men who spent the evening cutting up the railings of the ship to make weapons to attack the coast guard which they knew would be boarding the ship.

and the several men who were interviewed by the crew that said that they were preparing to “die as martyrs”

@Josh: about censorship: if I were a state, of course it would have been fascist (or Absolutist, or some other despotic ideology) of me to filter/censor comments. It wouldn’t matter if I did it for the right reasons: that I actually wanted to stimulate debate by filtering out the abuse and the posts that just repeat the same points over and over again.

But I’m not a state, I’m an individual, and the despotic metaphor does not apply.

BTW, If you take my comment about the ADL seriously, that’s too ridiculous.